After long trip fighting with bundle of articles, I finally found out why it was so important for me. Convergent analysis is a strategy for educational research with practictioner- oriented questions. Many researches were conducted for researchers. There are no condition explanations for certain technologies application or concrete actions in using those technologies from teachers’ point of view. Dr. Norris et al explained why convergent analysis was so important for education researches in their article.

Without any basic knowlege about research process, I could not identify how it was different from other researches. Finally, I understood it practically now. That’s related ways what I have thought for conclusion. I mean the answers for the second research question. That’s the direction why I have to look into the investigation environment or condition and compare the situation with teachers’ point of view.

Nowadays, many learning activities are conducted in self-directed learning methods. I am going to review the research conditions in this points, keeping in mind of convergent analysis.

From this point of view, I found some answers for the first research questions. However, I encounter another problems in setting.

It is very hard to find researches for computer simulations in elementary setting. Therefore, I am looking the settings, tracking each subject related studies’ references.

Norris, C., Smolka, J., & Soloway, E. (1999). Convergent analysis: A method for extracting the value from research studies on technology in education.

I am working on resource analyzing with tracking strategy and research checkh lists which I found in week 4.

1. article categorizing

reviews

subjects regarding research

biology

astronomy

physics

chemistry

earth science

resolution

interaction

collaboration

3D MUVE

concept change

prior knowledge

2. reading accurately and critically

overview -topic/research problem/resolution,outlines of its argument

abstract/ introduction/conclusion

My question on research at this moment:

1. Do I need to review overall in the all areas of science education, astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, and etc.or narrow one subject?

2. I can’t find ESL students in science education. Do you have any ideas? Is it okay to review general science education?

3.Can I extend the previous research result from higher education or should stick on elementary group research only?
I can infer certain direction from some results of high education because the authors mentioned it in their conclusions.

4. Should I buy articles? I found some related articles from references, but they are not free. With this situation, how can I track the related resources?

I was still uncomfortable because I was not sure about the concept of ongoing research. I could not ask anything because I felt I was not ready for it.

Even though I learned new and important thins about research, still could not help getting rid of the thought that I was wrong on research topic. Before I got any clues, I could not ask anything. Okay, I tried to stick to check a reference which I found first.

I focused on Hew et al’s article which showed a direction for me and I found another article related it. It was really tracking which I learned from the literature research study in the last week. Then I could catch a certain pattern of research papers. Then I wanted to think from the beginning: an inquiry word.

I read the direction provided by the professor again and again. While I studied 3D simulation, I found a helpful article which explained previous studies of computer simulation.

Finally, I restarted the research with “computer simulation” and collected other articles. I think it was clear than before. I started to scaling down my research with computer simulation out of too many resources.

I am working on resource analysis using tracking strategy and note-taking strategy which I learned. Now I think what I should do for the next step. However, I don’t know how to report my status in organized manner to the professor. I will try to synthesize what I learned and what I have found in the week 6.

I was so overwhelmed and stressful about research. It was not that easy to analyze the other research results, remember from one to another, and connect the new research results with what I already studied.

There are many jargons which I was confused. Research methods were confusing to understand. I got questions about them, but I didn’t know how to fix it and how to ask.

I decided to check my own language version research study books and found some useful books in the bookstore. I bought them and checked them overall. Even though the authors are Korean, I chose two books written by professor who studied in the states. Their examples or quotations came from the international resources and they provided the jargons both Korean and English. It was much better for me. There were some instructions how to manage research.

I learned what literature research is, what its procedure is.

Literature research procedure

Identify topic

contextualization

search resources

Analyze resources

documentation

I got some ideas for this course, but still wondering how to analyze current trend and many related articles. For this issue, the book suggested that I should have network for researching to get every possible and diverse resources and make a list of articles and periodicals. I need some helps for this procedure, but I don’t know how to ask others. Especially, I need to know both Korean and American educational system, but it is very hard to see the system from outside. What can I do for this?

Then I search with what I learned from the book: literature research procedure. Finally I got good resources for it and learned very basic things,but it’s also very important. Guideline of dealing resources is really helpful.

What to do if you have too few sources

What to do if you have too many sources

synthesizing information

summarizing and note taking

written by Reed, L.E performing a literature review

The reference ,The Literature search process: protocols for researchers, is very useful to plan and check up the research process. I am so glad to have this resources at this moment.